Labour refuses to sack MP for lynching joke

John McDonnell, MP, allegedly joked about lynching the employment minister Esther McVeyChris Harris/ The Times

Labour has ducked demands to withdraw the whip from one of its leftwing MPs over comments he is alleged to have made about the employment minister Esther McVey being lynched.

John McDonnell, the Hayes and Harlington MP, is reported to have made the remarks at a comedy night attended by activists and fellow Labour politicians, in London on Sunday.

Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, called on Labour to withdraw the whip following the “sickening demand, in public, for a violent attack on a female MP”. Labour said the alleged views “don’t represent” those of the party.

Mr McDonnell reportedly said: “I was up in Liverpool a fortnight ago where Alec McFadden, one of our organisers, launched the Sack Esther McVey Day, on her birthday. There…

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